Warming Up For The Winter Olympics Ready For The Stampede

CALGARY, Alberta -- Bear with me while I explain to you about my sister in Houston, and trust me that it will lead to some insight on Calgary, site of the XV Olympic Winter Games next year.

Audrey, the sister, lives in Houston. Call it fate, call it bad taste, call it having a husband with an oil job, there she is, and there she has been for several years.

So, I`m heading to Calgary on a business trip, find that my plane must make a connection in Houston, and decide to spend a few days with my favorite sister and her two Children from Hell.

The point is this: I spent a few days wandering around Houston -- a fairly bland oil-growth town wearing western jeans and offering a friendly handshake and no pretensions -- hopped on a plane, arrived in Calgary to find . . . a fairly bland oil-growth town wearing western jeans and offering a friendly handshake and no pretensions.

This is not necessarily a condemnation of Calgary, just a little perspective. Make no mistake, I think going to Calgary to visit just Calgary is a waste of precious travel time and money, the same thing I think of its ``sister`` city Houston. The city is friendly, clean, uncrowded, but it is stuck out on the prairie and is bland. (As my hip Jamaican cab driver said: If you want texture, go to New York City.) It`s certainly not the kind of hot destination for which I would travel 2,500 miles and cross several weather and time zones. Even for the famous Calgary Stampede, held every July.

Ah, but what`s near Calgary is another story: Just a little more than an hour`s drive west is the heartbreaking beauty of the Rocky Mountains. Nestled in those imposing peaks are the stunning ski resort towns of Lake Louise and Banff, and Banff and Jasper national parks.

Add the attraction of the 1988 Winter Olympics next February -- the first Winter Olympics held in North America since the Lake Placid, N.Y., games in 1980 -- and you`ve got yourself the makings of an adventure.

OLYMPIC PREPARATIONS

Actually, Calgary`s quiet, friendly qualities probably will make it a very good host for the Olympics.

This western Canadian city in the southern end of Alberta province has a classic American frontier patina: a cowboy-and-Indian history, small-town feel (even with a population of 640,000), fairly clean, easy to get around. It is non-threatening, English-speaking and bursting with pride over being an Olympic host (more than 11,000 local volunteeers have registered to help; only 8,000 will be needed).

The enormous work involved in sponsoring the Olympics (which will run from Feb. 13-28) has not been lost on Calgary officials. Since Calgary was selected in 1981 as a host site, the work has been building to a peak. Despite working five years on the project so far, as the final year`s countdown begins, ``it`s very overwhelming,`` says Grant Kelba, a Calgary tourism official.

But the city has been prepared somewhat for the mass influx by the annual Calgary Stampede. The number of spectators attending the Games has been estimated at 100,000 per day and 1.6 million in total. These numbers are similar to recent daily figures for the Stampede, which has been staged in the city since 1912.

Calgary also will warm up for the Games when it sponsors the Olympic Arts Festival from Jan. 23 to Feb. 28, 1988. This is being billed as an international arts program, incorporating all aspects of the performing and visual arts -- the cultural centerpiece of the Games.

Like a good cowboy, Calgary is taking its Olympic responsibilities very seriously. So far, tourism officials report that all projects are on target and on budget.

WEATHER PROTECTION

About $400 million will be spent on Olympic facilities and improvements (paid for by a combination of tax dollars, sponsorships and TV rights), and Calgary seems determined to make sure everything goes off without a hitch.

One of the things that officials are most proud of is that for the first time in Olympic history, all the venues will have controlled snow or ice conditions -- which means the events are not at the mercy of Calgary`s unpredictable weather. (Still, officials optimistically predict a 60 percent chance of a generous snow covering; the temperature in February averages 14 degrees.)

All the skating events, including hockey, figure skating and, for the first time ever, speed skating competitions, will be held indoors. The bobsleigh and luge run will be refrigerated.

And every Olympic ski course will be maintained with state-of-the art snowmaking equipment. The slalom and downhill courses at Nakiska on Mt. Allan are equipped with a $5.5 million snowmaking system, complete with computerized monitors, which is billed as ``more than capable of producing enough snow for every competitive run.`` In fact, Kelba reports that in January, snow was manufactured on Nakiska, which is now open to the public, because of the unusually brown winter the city had had so far.